


Making a list and Checking it twice

by Doombunny



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21688513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doombunny/pseuds/Doombunny
Summary: This was written for the 25 days of Christmas Challenge that is hosted by  @panicfob .  The Day 5 Challenge prompt was Gift ShoppingWarnings: FluffPairing:  OFC x Clint Barton (Platonic)Summary: Belle gets a visitor, helps a team mate with his gift list and learns a little more about what family can mean
Relationships: Clint Barton/OFC
Kudos: 2





	Making a list and Checking it twice

“You can’t just buy them all gift cards!” Belle struggled to hide her annoyance with Clint. The man had family so he should know that gift cards were not going to be a good gift

“Well what do you think I should get them?” Clint was spinning around on the spare chair in her office still managing to throw a ball of paper into the trash can on every revolution. It was actually kind of distracting watching and waiting to see if he would miss. Spoiler - he didn’t

“I don’t know something personal, that showed you had actually thought of them”

“Well yeah I know that but I hate shopping and what the fuck do you get the man who had everything?”

Tony was tricky that much she could acknowledge - it had taken her a few days to come up with something that would work for him. The first few gifts that she had selected and wrapped had been nice, but not all that personal. Not gift card impersonal, but at the time she hadn’t felt that she knew people well enough to get them anything else. A second batch of shopping had been undertaken and now each member of the team had an extra gift under her tree. 

“Ok so Tony is hard to pick for - I’ll give you that, but you must be able to think of something better for the others - Start with Nat”

“Well yeah I mean Nat is easy, there are loads of things she likes. There was some fancy underwear she mentioned I could get her that - what size do you think I would need to get?”  
Belle blushed and turned back to her screen “Well um… I don’t know”

“You wear underwear, how come you don’t know? Maybe I you stood and I looked at you then I could work out whether I need to size up or down or….”

Belle was shaking her head before he even finished his sentence “No! No I ….I don’t want to do… that’s maybe not…um” 

Clint sighed again “Fine I’ll think of something else - there was a knife that she liked”

“YES! Yes that sounds like something Natasha would like - Maybe you could get it engraved for her or something” anything had to be better than talking about underwear and Clint trying to work out sizes by comparing her body to the trained Russian Assassins 

Warm hands grabbed her shoulders and spun her round away from her monitor. “That is genius, grab your coat, you can come and help me pick”. Clint was pushing her along still in her office chair. “You’re the best Belle!”

Shopping with Clint was something Belle was putting on her not to be repeated list. On a day to day basis he could sit in his nest with total focus, unmoving until he was ready to strike, going around the stores it was like dealing with a toddler who had issues focusing. He touched and picked up everything that caught his eye, and then he would put it down when ever something else caught his eye. So far Belle felt that she had spent almost all of her time putting things back where they belonged.

“What about this for Steve ?” Clint brandished some awful looking socks that may or may not have had Steve’s picture on them.   
“Um maybe as a gag gift, or secret Santa. I’m not sure that Steve really wants to wear socks with his own face on them.”

Clint looked crest fallen he had obviously found the socks hilarious. “I mean you could get them as something a little extra. Why don’t we look and see if they have others for the rest of the team and you could add them to the other items”

Clint grinned in a way that let her know she had managed to bolster his spirits and they worked to see what other pairs they could find. 

“They don’t have any for Bucky or Nat - they do see to have some underpants though - what size should we get?” 

Belle was starting to worry about Clint’s obsession with underwear but she did her best to make an educated guess about sizes “ Um let a small for Nat and I guess what ever size you wear for Bucky?”

“Spend a lot of time comparing the asses of the Avengers do you” Clint wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner

“No …I ….I just wanted to help its a guess. You should maybe ask Natasha about what size to get Bucky.” Head down cheeks on fire Belle pushed the socks he had been carrying for Clint into his arms before turning on her heal and heading elsewhere. She was sure he was joking but she didn’t want him going back and saying things like that to the others. What if they were offended thinking that she spent all her time ogling them. 

Pushing through the crowds Belle could feel her hands starting to shake. What would Clint to say to the others? She was only just feeling like she knew them all, and while Clint and Sam liked to tease she didn’t know how to take their teasing. It made her feel panicked and anxious. Blindly walking, apologizing to people she bumped into, Belle eventually found herself in the Christmas decoration department. There was little more space to move here, probably because most folks had their decorations up already. Belle brushed her fingers over the delicate ornaments and soft tinsel, trying to work out how she should deal with the teasing that she would face back at the compound. 

“Wow they’re beautiful” Clint’s voice pulled Belle back to the here and now and Belle found that she was stood staring at a collection of snow globes

“I’m not sure that I’ve seen anything as pretty as these. Look this one had the city scape in it.” Clint reached out for a globe that was on a higher shelf bringing it down to show Belle

“It’s beautifully made” Belle agreed 

“I think Steve would love this. It’s like a mixture of old and new. What do you think?”

Belle nodded - it seemed like a good choice “I think it would be perfect for Steve”

Clint gently placed it in the basket he had picked up which seemed to be full of socks and underwear. He stayed crouched down looking up at Belle “You know that I was joking Belle. I’m sorry that my teasing made you sad”. 

Belle gave him a sad smile “No, I’m sorry. It’s just… I still don’t really understand when people are joking or …not. In the past it was usually a case of not.” She sighed “ You’re all coming to mean a lot to me and I don’t want to upset any of you”

Clint stood and wrapped an arm around her shoulders “I’ll let you into a secret. You know families argue and they disagree and sometimes they even fall out and don’t see each other for a while. It’s just the way things are. You can’t spend all your time worrying about whether you will make a misstep. You just have to live in the now, accept you might make a mistake and be ready to apologize if you do”

Clint guided her away from the Globes and towards a cash register “Now lets check out and head to get that knife - they might even have something there for Bucky”

By the time they got back to the compound Belle was laughing at another story of Clint’s. She was kind of amazed that he had managed to not kill himself with some of the antics he had gotten into. She headed up to the common area with Clint carrying some of the bags for him.

“Well well, and where have you two been all day?” Tony was stood by the coffee pot waiting for a new batch to finish brewing 

“Ah Tony - if only you knew. The lovely Belle was helping me buy underwear” Clint through her a wink and Belle grinned in response

“Underwear ?” Tony glanced down at the large number of bags the two carried

“Yep” Clint nodded and Belle giggled

“And underwear required all these bags?”

Again Clint nodded “Yep”

Tiny frowned trying to work out just what the joke was, with a quick glance at Clint Belle stepped forward a little to mock whisper “He’s getting to that age where he needs a little extra cover”

Tony laughed and Clint huffed in pretend annoyance “You promised not to tell!”

“Well it looks like you all had a good time though and even if it is underwear and its not all for the bird man - it will make a change from gift cards”

Clint looked a little abashed and turning took the bags from Belle before heading back towards his room “Just for that you’re getting a voucher for Cracker Barrel Stark!”

Belle watched Tony grin at his grumpy archers back as he headed out. It was clear that for all the teasing there were no hard feelings. 

“So you and Clint huh?”

Belle wasn’t sure how to read the Tony’s tone and she felt her nerves rise. “Yeah he…. He needed help with his errands….. his choices were going to be interesting”

“Well I am sure I can speak for the rest of the team when I say we would all be happy if you managed to get Barton step out of his comfort zone when it comes to gift giving” he paused taking a sip “I’m glad you were able to go with him”

“It was - hard, but it was fun getting to know him a little more. He’s a funny guy - but it takes a lot of energy to deal with him”

Tony raised an eyebrow “That’s an interesting way to look at it. People forget he’s a man of action, he just likes to bide his time” Reaching into a cupboard Tony pulled out another mug filling it with coffee and milk from the side before handing it to Belle who nodded her thanks

“I’m was worried that I would upset him but we talked a little about how family can be. I think I understand a little more now”. Belle glanced up at Tony over the edge of her mug

“You’re fine Snowflake, Now I have this” he raised his coffee “and I have projects waiting for me in the lab. You my dear should enjoy your coffee”

“Have a good evening Tony. Those reports will be with you first thing”

Tony waved his hand over his shoulder as he headed out “Excellent - I might get round to reading them, or not.” He paused in the door way “So are you offering to be the Christmas Shopper for the whole team - because I’ve got a big list and ….” He trailed off

Belle choked a little on her coffee “ ummm. I mean I could but ……yeah I think I’ll pass on that thanks”. She waited until he was just out of the door before calling out “I’d rather Barnes and Noble than Cracker Barrel for my gift card”

Tony’s laugh dried back up the hall. She was gettin the hang of this family thing. He mentally added a gift card onto her gift list.


End file.
